TikTok, a mobile app for sharing short videos, today announced a partnership with the NFLPA to add 3D augmented reality stickers of NFL players to TikTok’s global platform. The NFLPA-licensed stickers were created through partnership with SportsManias, a developer of animated sports-related emojis.
Fans will be able to input the stickers into the videos they share on TikTok, which is owned by Chinese app-developer ByteDance. The free stickers are animated to show signature touchdown celebrations unique to certain NFL players when integrated into a short-form video clip. TikTok videos have a maximum length of 15 seconds.
“These AR Stickers are going to bring fans’ favorite players right into TikTok users’ videos in a way that is really exciting,” said Vicente Fernandez, CEO and Co-Founder of SportsManias, in a press release. “TikTok and SportsManias are taking the AR trend to another level for fans by creating the world’s only animated AR Stickers of NFL Players, giving them a new way to talk trash and spread their passion during the [NFL] playoffs.”
Back in 2016, the NFLPA first partnered with SportsManias to allow shareable licensed player emojis to appear on SportsManias’s mobile app. As part of this new agreement between the NFLPA, SportsManias, and TikTok, select NFL players will create personal accounts to share content involving their individual stickers on the TikTok app. Players will also market the stickers via their personal social media accounts on other platforms. The NFL players stickers designed by SportsManias are available to users for free on TikTok, via iOS and Android smartphones.
“TikTok is continuously evolving creative tools and product offers like AR objects, special effects, stickers, filters and more to provide creators with easy-to-use editing tools that empower creativity within our community,” said Michael Modon, Global Business Development at TikTok, in the press release. “These new AR Stickers featuring NFL players will help creators and fans of the game express themselves and share their content around one of the largest watched sporting events.”
SportTechie Takeaway
TikTok is available in over 150 countries in 75 languages, and was the most downloaded app in the U.S. for the month of September, according to TechCrunch. The company said its global monthly active user count reached 500 million as of June 2018, according to CNBC. The app’s immense popularity also led to the NBA forming a partnership with ByteDance in November to create exclusive global video content for TikTok. Although no NBA player-licensed stickers were included in that deal, if the NFL stickers are a hit during the week leading up to the Super Bowl, perhaps that might change.